Charlie’s Maine Open: Pennsylvania’s Mason takes title with scorching 62

MANCHESTER — The check with Andrew Mason’s name on it won’t be missing any zeroes. The crystal vase Mason cradled underneath his right arm still looked splendid with the twilight rays shimmering off it.

Also, shooting a scorching 62 to win the Charlie’s Maine Open at Augusta Country Club is sensational under any circumstances. So the 25-year-old champion from Huntingdon Valley, Pa., was empathetic but hardly apologetic after racing off with a rain-shortened title.

“There’s not much I can really do about it. I felt a little bad, but that stuff happens and it’s kind of out of my control,” Mason said. “While I think things could have changed tomorrow, I like to think I could have played well tomorrow also. I just think I’m lucky to be in the position I’m in.”

Mason bagged five birdies on the back nine for a two-shot victory over Mark Purrington of Dartmouth, Mass.

A graduate of Temple University whose previous career highlights include the 2013 Pennsylvania Open title and two victories in his home state amateur, Mason won $10,000.

With the tournament abbreviated to 18 holes due to Monday’s rains, and that day’s tee times holding true, spectators didn’t presume to have the luxury of following the last two groups of the day to track the likely champion.

Yet, lo and behold, both the winner and the runner-up emerged from the final two tee times. Mason finished on the traditional back nine, while Purrington wrapped up on the front. Together, they broke through a four-way tie at 65 that had Eric Egloff, Joe Toland, Bryan Bigley and Jeb Buchanan waiting around for a playoff.

Mason made his move with consecutive birdies on 10, 11 and 12 to go 6-under.

“I hit it pretty close on all three, maybe three feet on each,” Mason said. “I had checked in (about the scores) on 10, so I kind of had an idea that I was in the lead, but not by a great amount.”

Purrington pulled even at around the same time with back-to-back birdies on 3 and 4.

Prior to that, Purrington overcame an early bogey at 12 (his third hole) by sinking a 40-yard chip for eagle at 13.

“I had a nice drive, hit a wedge by the pin, and it came back and went in,” Purrington said. “After that I just played pretty steady and then grinded and scrambled a little toward the end.”

Purrington put together his own streak of three birdies at 16, 17 and 18 before making the turn.

His undoing was the par-5 fifth hole, where he hit his second shot shy of the mark with a 3-wood, chipped past the pin, then missed the comebacker for birdie.

“I hit a good putt, hit it online and it didn’t go in,” Purrington said. “That hurt a little bit.”

It began a run of five consecutive pars to the finish for Purrington, including a tough up-and-down after he hit his drive sharply left and under a tree at 8.

By that time, Mason notched another birdie at 16 and knew that one more at 18 would leave him with nothing worse than a playoff.

After hitting a 4-iron from 225 yards to within 10 feet, Mason just missed his putt for eagle before tapping in for the trophy.

“I did what I needed to do under pressure, I think,” he said.

Asked if he had a magic number in mind in the unusual one-day format, Mason said he thought the winner would shoot 65 or under.

Mike Van Sickle was on the fringe at 18 Monday with a chip for eagle and a possible 59 before the severe weather siren sounded. Van Sickle didn’t get to finish his round, and like everyone else’s, it was washed away.

Mason never teed off Monday.

“I’m sure Mike isn’t happy, but I’m not complaining,” Mason said. “With how wet it was, anything could win. Five-under is a really good score. 62’s a good score obviously, and if we played tomorrow it could be anything in between or lower.”

Egloff of Sandy Spring, Md., Toland of Hartford, Vt., Bigley of Schenectady, N.Y., and Buchanan of Loudonville, N.Y., shot matching scores of 65 — Egloff and Toland in the morning, Bigley and Buchanan in the afternoon — before playing the game of hurry up and wait.

Egloff, 49, was in the second group to tee off on the 10th hole at 7:40 a.m., leaving him with a potential seven-hour wait to find out if he would be in a sudden-death playoff.

“I hope somebody shoots 64 really quick,” quipped Egloff, whose hotel was 75 miles away in Bangor.

After playing bogey-free golf in what amounted to a practice round Monday, Egloff backed it up with six birdies and one bogey on the loop that counted.

He birdied three of his first six holes (12, 14 and 15), then later bounced back from his lone bogey on 7 with an exclamation-point birdie at 9.

“I just tried to keep it around the hole,” Egloff said. “My goal was just not to make any big mistakes. That basically was 8-under for two days, so I played pretty good.”

Toland, 22, and a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, was nowhere near the leader board Monday and has struggled throughout the summer on New England’s circuit of state opens and regional tournaments.

His best previous result: 23rd, twice.

“I was 1-over standing on the 12th fairway, so I was OK with it getting called until (Tuesday),” Toland said. “It’s still golf. Obviously it puts a little more emphasis on, you’ve really got to get it going. A 67 or 68 in a two- or three-day event might put you in an OK spot, but it’s not even close in a one-day format, especially on a golf course where guys are going to score low.”

Bigley, 29, is the son of a golf course superintendent who works as a greenskeeper in North Carolina when he isn’t pursuing his golf career.

He rolled in a tricky, downhill two-putt on the ninth hole (his 18th) to save the 65, including a 5-footer that circled the lip before dropping in. As he drove his cart to the clubhouse, Bigley joked to a restless Toland that he was 7-under before saying he didn’t think 5-under would be enough to get into a playoff.

“The course is pretty easy out there,” Bigley said. “This was my first round, and if you had seen it once or twice, it would be pretty easy to take. It’s just a lot of wedges into greens. There’s really no excuse to make bogeys out there if you don’t get into trouble, which there’s not a lot of it out there.”

Bigley birdied the par-3 seventh, sinking an uphill 6-footer, to move into the first-place tie.

“It’s tough to make putts out there. That’s the only thing,” Bigley said. “The greens are pretty rough.”

Buchanan, a 2012 University of Connecticut graduate, drained four birdies on the back nine, including the 18th, to punctuate his 65.

Jason Gall of Augusta, Vermont Open winner Richy Werenski, past Maine Open champion Mike San Filippo, Jason Rossetti, Matthew Campbell, Chad Bouchard and Michael Davan were in a 7-way logjam at 66.

Early scores elevated on a sunny, windy, cool day compared to Monday’s rain-soaked, ill-fated attempt to open play. Only 14 of the first 76 players broke par. There were 31 red numbers in all.

Andrew Bradford of Redland, Calif., was alone at 67.

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